WASHINGTON (AP) — The government’s top intelligence lawyers on Wednesday renewed assurances that Congress is adequately monitoring U.S. surveillance programs. But it’s suddenly an awkward argument for the Obama administration, since the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee publicly accused the CIA of illegally monitoring its investigators as they carried out their oversight duties.

Since disclosures about the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs, including the collection of phone records and emails of millions of U.S. citizens, the administration has said they were approved and overseen by all three branches of the U.S. government.